One Last Christmas
by Walkinthegarden
Summary: Some cases hit close to home, like the ones that involve Terminally ill children. One little boy worms his way into everyone's heart. The least they can do is try and give him one last christmas, even if it is October. Warning: Death of a child


_**It's the news that no one hopes for,  
Every parent's greatest fear  
Finding out the child you love so much  
Might not make it through the year**_

Some cases hit you harder then others, for instance the ones that involve terminal kids. Wilson just so happened to be on a case such as this as he was on his way to tell a young couple that their two year old son wouldn't live to see another Christmas. It wasn't fair. When he entered his office all he wanted to do was tell them that their son would be fine, that he would be allowed to grow and marry and experience all the wonders of life, but that would be a lie. They were sitting in the chairs by his desk, their son curled up on Wilson's couch fast asleep with his teddy bear clasped tightly in his little arms.

"Dr. Wilson," Jessica Heart greeted cautiously, waiting to hear the news. She was truly a beautiful young woman, barely out of college. She had long dark auburn hair that contrasted nicely with her dark green eyes and pale skin. When he had first met her, she was dressed to impress, clad in designer clothes, manicured nails, hair styled to perfection, makeup immaculate, and perfect posture. That all faded long ago though, taking care of her son to such an extent had taken a toll on her, on both parents. Her husband had been identical to his wife, everything expensive and in order, but now he sat across from the doctor in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt with exhausted eyes.

"I looked over the test results," Wilson started, noticing the way Jessica reached for her husband's hand. "I'm afraid Corbin won't make it to Halloween."

"No," Jessica whimpered as her last ounce of strength left her body and she crumpled in her seat. As if they shared a connection far greater then human understanding, Corbin's eyes opened and sought his mother.

"Mama, no cry," the little boy begged as he climbed into his mother's lap. Jessica didn't say a word to her son, instead choosing to pull him into her arms. Her husband knelt before his family and encased them in his arms.

_**Now the thought of spending Christmas  
Without him just feels wrong  
They've been praying for a miracle,  
Now they're praying he can just hold on**_

"Mama?" Corbin asked as he looked up from the hospital bed.

"Yes baby?"

"Santa knows I in hospital, right?" the boy asked innocently, stopping his attending nurse in her tracks as she glanced between the boy and his startled parent.

"Of course he knows baby," his mother told him softly, tears silently trickling down her face. When her son was fast asleep from the sedative, Jessica ran from the room, not getting too far before she dropped to her knees in sobs.

After only seconds she felt a hand on her shoulder while someone asked her if she was alright. She looked up from her hands to see an attractive doctor looking back at her. Not too far behind him were two additional doctors, watching carefully, waiting to come to his aid if she got violent.

"No," she whispered, "My son is dying."

**_For one last Christmas, one last time,_**  
**_One last season when the world is right,_**  
**_One more telling of the story,_**  
**_One more verse of Silent Night,_**  
**_They'd give anything so he could have_**  
**_One last Christmas._**

Dr. Chase walked toward the room that housed young Corbin hoping he could convince the boy's hovering mother to go home, take a shower and a nap, while he took the boy to the courtyard to play during his break. The scene he found when he entered the room, the scene was both picturesque and utterly sad. Jessica was asleep, curled around her son on the bed, using her arm as a pillow while Corbin sat quietly and watched TV.

Though the doctor loathed to wake her, knowing how little sleep the brunette got, he knew he had to or she'd develop back pains.

"Jessica," he whispered, gently shaking her.

"Corbin?" she asked sleepily, making sure her son was alright before turning to Chase.

"Dr. Chase? What are you doing here?" Her voice was still thick with sleep but she seemed coherent enough.

"I thought it'd be a good idea if you went home and got some rest. You're exhausting yourself and that is not good for you or Corbin. I can watch him for a few hours and I'll call you if he so much as sneezes," he told her, making it clear that while phrased like a question he was in no way making a request.

"Alright, you'll keep a close eye on him?" she confirmed.

"Yes, I'll watch him. Corbin, I was thinking you could hang out with me today?" Chase asked, leaning over slightly in order to seem less intimidating to the boy.

"Yeah!" Corbin cried out as he extended his arms to Chase in a classic 'pick me up'. Chase did just that, giving the boy just enough time to kiss his mother before the doctor whisked him out of the room.

Chase hadn't gotten more then eight feet when his pager went off. Though annoyed he turned his direction to the conference room, Corbin still in his arms.

When he entered, he wasn't surprised to see House slouching in a chair throwing his big grey and red ball against the wall while Cameron and Foreman sat at the table with the new patient file in their hand. Wilson was also there, standing tall by House, though obviously not wanting to be there.

"Dotor Wilseen!" Corbin chimed happily as he reached out to the oncologist. Wilson turned suddenly at the boy's voice and looked panicked when he saw the detached IV.

"Corbin, where is your mom?" Wilson asked as he walked over to them.

"Chase sent mama home 'cause mama no sleep," Corbin replied happily as he began to squirm in Chase's arms. Understanding, Chase set the boy on the floor were he toddled over to House, who was eyeing the whole situation suspiciously. To everyone's horror, Corbin started climbing onto House's lap. Nearly everyone was about to jump to the boy's rescue when something stopped them all in their tracks. Corbin had seated himself comfortable in House's lap, laying his head against his chest and extending his small arms to clasp around House in a hug. At first House was emotionless but after a few moments of held breath he laid a hand on the boys back before turning to his team.

"Contrary to popular belief I do have a heart… but don't spread that around, it's a secret."

**_Middle of September_**  
**_Still seventy degrees_**  
**_Daddy climbs up in the attic_**  
**_Brings down candles_**  
**_Hangs the lights on all the trees,_**

It was September 15th, Chase's day off, but he was still in the hospital, visiting with Corbin and Jessica. It was hot outside, so the young boy was trapped in doors. Chase was sitting in the chair by the window while Jessica sat cross-legged on the bed with Corbin in her lap. The TV was on in the background, playing Halloweentown High, some Disney movie series Corbin adored, but none of them were paying attention. Instead the two Hearts listened as Chase enchanted them with stories of Australia.

Just as Chase hit the climax of one of his stories William, Jessica's husband, walked in carrying a box with Wilson behind him carrying a five foot plastic Christmas tree.

"Daddy, it not December yet!" Corbin giggled, climbing out of his mother's lap and sitting on the edge of the bed.

"I know buddy, Christmas is coming early this year, Santa called to tell me," William told his son as Chase helped Wilson put up the tree in the corner.

"Yay!" the small boy yelled happily as he reached for the DVD on the very top of the box. "Mama, can we watch Frosty?"

With tears tickling the corners of Jessica's eyes she nodded.

_**Then the neighbors started asking  
And pretty soon word got around**_

"Hey, why do they have Christmas decorations up already?" Nurse Corduroy asked as she observed the wreath and paper snowflakes on a patient's door. The delivery man nodded his head.

"I was wondering that myself."

"Poor dear, it's one of Wilson's patients, a little boy named Corbin. He's got stage four leukemia and he's not expected to make it to Halloween much less Christmas."

"That's the reason I could never do this job, to much death," the delivery man said sadly.

"That's the reason I must do this job, to make it as easy as possible."

After only a few minutes the parents of another patient stopped by the station, asking the same question and receiving the same answer.

_**First it was the neighborhood, **_

"Mama look!" Corbin squealed, pointing his little finger around the hallway. It seemed over night the corridor had been made over into a winter wonderland. He jumped up and down excitedly while Jessica and William looked bewildered.

"Christmas is the one time when everything is right in the world, your son deserves to have that one last time," a woman told them, her eyes never leaving the precious little boy as he jumped around looking at and touching everything.

_**Before too long they lit up that whole town.**_

When the delivery man got home the day after another delivery to the hospital, he didn't rush to the kitchen for a beer so he could sit and watch a game like he normally would, instead he simply sat on the couch and watched his two young children playing with their toys. For the first time in nearly ten years he clasped his hands together and thanked the Lord for his healthy sons as his shoulders started shaking with unshed sobs.

"Honey what is it?" his wife asked him, sitting next to him.

"Kate, get out the Christmas boxes please," he told her softly.

Across the city, Chase found himself staring at his one box of Christmas decorations, thinking about Corbin. With a sigh and a swig of beer he stared taking them out. He rimmed the window with lights and put the wreath on the door.

Foreman found himself doing the exact same thing as his coworker when he got home. He didn't unpack all his Christmas decorations, but he made sure to put out the lights, so Corbin could see the city glowing in the night.

Cameron was no different then her two coworkers as she spent the evening hanging her Christmas lights.

"What are you doing?" a couple asked her, noticing the boxes of Christmas decorations.

"Hanging my Christmas lights."

"In September?"

"Yeah, I want to make a little boy smile before he dies."

**_For one last Christmas, one last time,_**  
**_One last season when the world is right,_**  
**_One more telling of the story,_**  
**_One more verse of Silent Night,_**  
**_They'd give anything so he could have_**  
**_One last Christmas._**

"…and I in my cap, had just settled down, for a long winter's nap…" Wilson smiled when he noticed that Corbin was asleep, cocooned in a number of Christmas blankets. "He's asleep." Jessica turned from the window, a hot chocolate clasped in her hands. She smiled at him. She was exhausted, that was clear on her face, but she seemed happy to see her son so content and blissfully unaware. The windows were open, bringing in the cool October air to make it feel more like Christmas. Jessica was dressed in a pair of flattering jeans, a grey wool sweater, and a white scarf that wrapped around her neck twice before falling down her front.

At a glance she looked like a college student during Christmas break, but if you looked closer you saw the sunken eyes and grey hairs. She didn't look twenty-three anymore.

"How long?" she asked, looking at him with those doleful eyes so full of misery. He sighed, setting the book off to the side.

"Three weeks, maybe more if we're lucky."

**_Twenty-seventh of October,_**  
**_His time was wearing thin_**  
**_Friends and family, even strangers_**  
**_That they didn't know brought presents in_**  
**_He was weak but he was smiling_**  
**_Like there was nothing even wrong_**  
**_They said he wouldn't make it,_**  
**_Looks like he got to see it after all_**

It was October 27th, four days before Halloween, but the Heart family wasn't preparing for scary holiday. Jessica was dressed in a dark crimson dress with a black sash and black pumps. Her auburn hair was up in a high ponytail tied in a dark green ribbon and a silver hair band. William was a little more relaxed in dress then his wife, choosing instead to wear a simple red dress shirt, form fitting blue jeans, and a Santa hat.

Corbin was asleep in his bed, having just gone through an intense series of pain relief injections. Jessica was busying herself by adding even more decorations to the room while William was in the cafeteria getting the three of them food and Wilson was watching her through the observation window. When she was done with the decorations she went over to the stack of presents in the corner of the room. It seemed like every person in the state had come and dropped a present off for their son.

"How much time does he have?" House asked, appearing at his friend's side. For once his voice wasn't mocking, he looked almost sympathetic.

"Hours, a day at best," Wilson sighed. They remained silence as they watched the small boy open his tired eyes. He was obviously tired but he smiled widely when his mother pulled him into her arms.

"She's going to be miserable when he dies," House stated, shaking his head slightly.

"I know, it's already been arranged to have her admitted into the psych ward for 72 hour observation when he passes."

"Hey Doc, you going to join us for our Christmas celebration?" William asked as he came down the hallway, a tray of red and green food in his arms assisted by Chase.

"I don't know—"

"William," Jessica called, running out of the room with a large smile on her face. The four men turned to look at the woman, pleased to see her so happy. "It's snowing."

"What?" William looked past his wife to where his son was standing by the window, his small hands pressed against the cold glass as he looked out at the falling frozen flakes.

"Get Corbin and follow me," Chase said with a smile. Jessica returned his smile as she went to get her son.

Together the family followed Chase, Wilson and House behind them as they entered the elevator. When the doors opened, the family gasped at what they say. The entire city was lit up in Christmas lights, surrounded by a halo of white snow flakes. William held back his tears as he placed a hand on the small of Jessica's back, leading her out onto the roof of the hospital.

Corbin giggled as he looked out at all the lights. He smiled as he laid his head against his mother's shoulder. While the adults continued looking out at the view, they didn't notice the small boy's eyes close.

"Corbin, God gave you a… Corbin?" Jessica's eyes went wide as she moved her son in her arms, curling him into her chest. "Corbin!"

Wilson closed his eyes as tears clouded his vision. Chase stepped back as shock and denial overtook his features. House turned from the scene, unable to watch without screaming at the God he didn't believe in.

Jessica fell to her knees, her body numb to the cold as she sobbed and pulled her son to her body. William was crying, kneeling before his wife.

"Corbin, I'm sorry baby," Jessica cried.

"Merry Christmas baby boy," William whispered as he kissed his son's head.

**_For one last Christmas, one last time,_**  
**_One last season when the world is right,_**  
**_One more telling of the story,_**  
**_One more verse of Silent Night,_**  
**_They'd give anything so he could have_**  
**_One last Christmas_**


End file.
